The world is not short on teachings. Men have commandments. Some of these are decent and harmless, while others are dangerous. The problem comes when men elevate their doctrines or teachings to the level of God’s word. This is exactly what the religious leaders did during the Lord’s earthly ministry. They elevated their own writings, thoughts, and opinions to the level of the word of God until they would eventually give more reverence to their commandments than to the scripture. This is the propagation of false doctrine. Even now, there are multitudes of people propagating the commandments of men as though they are the words of God.
One’s actions demonstrate true compassion. Five times the Bible uses the phrase moved with compassion (Matthew 9:36; Matthew 14:14; Matthew 18:27; Mark 1:41; Mark 6:34). Four of the five references refer to Christ’s compassion toward others. True compassion always moves people to do something for others. In Mark 6:34-44, the disciples wanted to send the crowd away hungry, but Christ refused to send them away empty. He would not allow the multitudes to leave His presence still in need. In this one example, Christ's compassion fed thousands when others would have sent them away faint and hungry. The Lord not only fed thousands with two small fishes and five loaves of bread, but also produced a miraculous amount of leftovers.
The journey of the Lord from Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon) to Decapolis covered between 50 and 75 miles. No doubt much of the traveling might have taken place on foot. When He arrived at the Sea of Galilee, the Lord must have been drained physically. Yet, there was no time for rest because a man in need of healing was brought to Him. The man was deaf and had a speech impediment. The Lord separated from the multitude and healed the deaf and dumb man. He first put His fingers in the man’s ears, then spit and touched the man’s tongue. The Lord looked toward heaven and sighed, then commanded the man’s ears to be opened. Immediately, his eyes were opened and his tongue was loosed and he could both see and speak.
